The Port of Barcelona begins a cycle of strong investment
The new strategic plan until 2030 focuses on gaining resilience to face new crises
BarcelonaThe Port of Barcelona has launched the 5th Strategic Plan for the period 2026-2030, the largest investment cycle in the history of the port infrastructure, which will extend until 2040 with actions on accesses, terminals and facilities. This was explained at a press conference by the president of the Port of Barcelona, José Alberto Carbonell, and the head of strategy for the infrastructure, Jordi Torrent, who presented the strategic plan approved at the end of January by the board of directors.
the need to develop railway, road, and energy infrastructuresThe new strategic plan focuses on strengthening the "resilience" of its supply chains to face a global context full of "disruptions". Carbonell has defined the improvement of infrastructures to gain storage space and the increase of logistics surface to attract new projects as "essential".
"We have to grow with infrastructure, we link it to the necessary resilience of the Port of Barcelona," said Carbonell, who highlighted the need to develop railway, road and energy infrastructures. Regarding energy transformation, one of the axes that the Port is tackling in this strategic plan is to complete the deployment of electrification of the docks for container ships, ferries and cruise ships.
Among the thirty or so infrastructure projects planned, highlights include the new Catalunya and Jaume I docks, in the southern part of the port; the construction of new road and rail access, and new berths for liquid bulk to avoid "current congestion". Torrent explained that the infrastructure plans to start many of these infrastructure projects in the coming years, which does not mean they will be completed in this five-year period.
€300 million this year
In 2025, the infrastructure tendered works for 300 million euros, a figure expected to be similar for the current fiscal year. "We will maintain high amounts, above our cash flow; the way to assume this is that there will be a part from cash flow and an undoubted part from the debt of the Port of Barcelona", explained Carbonell.
In fact, one of the infrastructure's objectives this year is to increase the Port Authority's cash flow by 15% compared to last year. The Port of Barcelona once again broke its revenue record in 2025, reaching 206 million euros, up 3%, although it lost 6% in profit, with 59 million euros, due to the "extraordinary impact" of the financing operation for the new coffee terminal. its revenue record, reaching 206 million euros, 3% more, although it lost 6% in profit, with 59 million euros, due to the "extraordinary impact" of the financing operation for the new coffee terminal.
More logistics space outside the port
Another of the Port of Barcelona's objectives is to mobilize more logistics space outside its area through the Centre Intermodal de Logística (Cilsa), the mixed company that manages the logistics activities zone (ZAL) of the port infrastructure, and in which the port has a majority stake. Carbonell stated that these lands are practically at "full occupancy" and said they are working with the Generalitat to find complementary spaces.
An example of this strategy of expanding spaces, he said, was carried out last year, when Aena awarded Cilsa a plot for the construction and operation of logistics buildings on the grounds of El Prat airport.
Regarding the impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the war in Iran, Carbonell stated that the traffic they maintain with the Persian Gulf is small. "Traffic with the closed countries does not reach 2-3% of the port's container traffic," explained Torrent, who pointed out that, beyond the energy sector, the impact could be significant in very specific sectors, such as alfalfa, as the Persian Gulf countries are major importers of this cereal. Carbonell recalled that Hormuz is the only strait that does not have an alternative route. On the other hand, he explained that the price of cargo containers between Europe and Asia has been little affected by the situation, as at the end of February it was around 2,000 dollars and, currently, "it has risen slightly".